Quick question . . . And we'll hopefully get into this later.
WHAT IS PROBLEM THAT THE KANSAS CITY DOWNTOWN TOY TRAIN WILL HELP SOLVE?!?!?
It's not an infrastructure priority . . . Obviously this town's old and busted pipes are a more pressing concern.
It's not a transit issue . . . Most people can easily walk or roll the distance that the toy train will run.
It's not a tourism issue . . . Doesn't Kansas City's Downtown have ENOUGH taxpayer subsidized attractions already? Is ONE MORE shiny new toy really going to make a difference???
Instead . . . So many Kansas City subsidized projects have failed to bring any real or sustainable population growth or "renaissance" Downtown but we're supposed to believe that THIS DUMB IDEA is the magic bullet from a Mayor and City Council who seem to screw up just about everything they touch.
Good luck with that . . .
Photobabe: Wendy Fiore
WHAT IS PROBLEM THAT THE KANSAS CITY DOWNTOWN TOY TRAIN WILL HELP SOLVE?!?!?
It's not an infrastructure priority . . . Obviously this town's old and busted pipes are a more pressing concern.
It's not a transit issue . . . Most people can easily walk or roll the distance that the toy train will run.
It's not a tourism issue . . . Doesn't Kansas City's Downtown have ENOUGH taxpayer subsidized attractions already? Is ONE MORE shiny new toy really going to make a difference???
Instead . . . So many Kansas City subsidized projects have failed to bring any real or sustainable population growth or "renaissance" Downtown but we're supposed to believe that THIS DUMB IDEA is the magic bullet from a Mayor and City Council who seem to screw up just about everything they touch.
Good luck with that . . .
Photobabe: Wendy Fiore
Yes. Kansas City aspires to be a town full of the likes of Tony Botello! By all means KC should kill this stupid idea! TKC is the best we will ever be!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGood point, 6:39am.
ReplyDeleteThere was just a discovery that early humans were actually in North America at least 13,000 years earlier than orignally thought.
Could it actually be that some of those folks are STILL AROUND?
I don't know what effect the vibration from the streetcar will have, but they better plan on replacing every single inch of water main under the section of roadway where the streetcar rails are located.
ReplyDeleteThe problem that will be solved is the inferiority complex. Now we can say we have mass transit for white people so KS is in a league with such successful cities as St Louis.
ReplyDeleteAgree with TKC on this one. That route is already overserved.
ReplyDeleteWhat part of redundant doesn't our city government understand?
Speaking of redundant, check out Lewis Diuguid's column in today's Star. The only positive aspect of his contribution to literature is at least he's not accusing anyone of racism.
When the water mains under the streetcar break and water floods the electric rail, will all the passengers be electrocuted or will the train just stop?
ReplyDeleteThe Convention and Visitors Bureau should really be planning ahead.
Th "problem" this solves is how to build something with other people's money, have a big launching ceremony with balloons, ribbon-cutting, and confetti, gets lots of fawning press and media attention and maybe even a mention in some government magazine, and then finish out your term and become another KCMO elder statesman and let other people worry about how in the world to pay to keep your creation going.
ReplyDeleteJust look all around: the P&L District, H&R Block building, Citadel Plaza, Butler garage, and on and on.
Legacies all!
On YOUR dime.
6:39 & 6:47 are prime examples of KC Fail
ReplyDeleteThe pipes which bring the water to your houses in KC are failing. That dump you just took might be backing up in your basement due to the sewer system failing.
But be rest assured you can go ride the toy train that many of you seem to think is such a good idea so it will appear you are keeping up with the Smiths.
But wouldn't it be better to kill the toy train folley rebuild your city and be better than the Smiths for real?
No KC I doubt you will ever have a good city again. You instead want to act like those who go buy an Escalade add another eight thousand or so in wheels for it and drive it around acting all cool in your shiney new ride before going home to your sewer flooded falling down crap looking house.
Nobody outside of KC will be impressed with the toy train and KC can't afford to build it least not until the rest of the city is back to where it was at once a long time ago. The City of Fountains is about to become the City of Spew from broken water and sewer lines.
Let's skip the streetcar get the stoplights off Highway 71 (the only freeway in the world with stoplights).
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Former mayor cleaver was the driving force behind the stop lights.
DeleteSuperDave's comment reminds me of something I noticed when I was working in a textile mill in Nashville. The young people had nice cars, but lived in dumps. The older folks drove clunkers, but lived in nice houses.
ReplyDeleteWhich company will actually build this toy, & how much money will they make from it?
The stoplights were done to appease Mamie Hughes, who was vocal about her opposition to 71. She turned local folks out against the highway. Cleaver and others have always bowed to Mamie and they did again. And they named a freakin bridge after her to boot!
ReplyDeleteIt's not a toy train. It is a transit issue, a tourism issue and an economic development issue.
ReplyDeleteLOL @ "such successful cities as St Louis".
ReplyDeleteHa.
Nothing says success like losing 8 to 15% of your population every decade. Even KC's urban core hasn't lost as much population as StL, and it provides every bit as much quality of life and culture as StL, despite being in a metro that is 1 million people smaller.
In fact, the only thing StL really has on KC of any import is fixed rail transit, and unsurprisingly, the only part of StL that didn't shrink in the last census was right along that line.
1:48: Wasn't that also the justification for the P&L, the proposed 1,000-room hotel, and a bunch of other SNAFUs?
ReplyDeleteI can just see someone from, say LA, San Francisco, or even Wichita saying, "Wow! They have a streetcar in Kansas City that goes all of a couple of miles. I MUST go see that!"